


The Animals Always Know

by imamaryanne



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M, this fic recognizes Ianto's death, torchwood bingofest2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26068696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imamaryanne/pseuds/imamaryanne
Summary: Ianto's cat doesn't like Jack.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43
Collections: Torchwood Fan Fests: Bingo Fest 2020





	The Animals Always Know

**Author's Note:**

> My first space for Torchwood Bingofest 2020 has been filled! Prompt was Pets.

Ianto never told Jack that he had a cat. 

The first time he went over to Ianto’s flat, they had only been dating (or sleeping together or whatever it was they were doing) for a month. Jack followed Ianto through the front door and was surprised to see Ianto bend over and scoop up a little fur ball and hold it to his chest. He shouldn’t have really been that surprised, after all, Ianto had the personality of a caretaker. It was logical he’d have a pet. 

“This is Elphie,” Ianto said, turning to Jack. “Mica named her, it’s short for Elphaba. Mica’s really into musical theatre these days.” 

Jack eyed Elphie warily, she was mostly black with white on her chest and paws. Domesticated animals didn’t like him, and cats were the worst of it. Elphie was no exception. Her pupils dilated as she spotted Jack, and she hissed, the fur on the back of her neck standing on end as she tried to squirm her way out of Ianto’s arms. 

Ianto struggled to keep the wiggling animal in his arms. “I don’t know what’s going on. She never acts like this.”

“Cats don’t like me,” Jack said, keeping his eye carefully on Elphie. 

Ianto looked up, surprised. He loosened his grip and the cat jumped to the ground and darted under the coffee table. She peeked her little head out and watched Jack on guard. “Why not?”

“You know the idea that cats can detect ghosts and other supernatural beings?”

“You’re not supernatural,” Ianto said. “You’re entirely human.” 

“Yeah, but I’m not necessarily natural either, am I?” Jack asked. 

Ianto looked a little confused, a little put out that his favorite cat didn’t like his favorite person. “I have to admit I don’t always know what you are.”

“Maybe we should head back to the Hub?” 

“No,” Ianto said. “No, I said I’d make you dinner here, and that’s what I’m going to do. Elphie will get used to you.” 

Jack shrugged off his trench coat and draped it on the small sofa in the sitting room. Ianto took off his suit coat, then loosened his tie and pulled it over his head. He went into his bedroom and hung them up carefully. Jack looked around the flat. It was small and neat, and exactly what he would have expected from the fastidious Ianto. The furniture all matched, but Jack believed it wasn’t Ianto’s - that the flat came already furnished with the bland beige pieces. The bookshelves were full, about half of the titles were in Welsh which Jack couldn’t read, but the English books were far-ranging, from biographies of rugby players, to Stephen King paperbacks, to the poetry of Dylan Thomas. 

Ianto made his way into the kitchen, which was small but just big enough for a table for two pressed up against the wall and at the window which looked out onto a courtyard, with another building of flats across that. Jack sat down at the table and Elphie darted out from her hiding place, into the kitchen where she promptly jumped on the counter then on top of the refrigerator. She stared at Jack from her perch on the fridge. 

Jack ignored her and made conversation, “How long have you lived here?” 

“Since I’ve been back in Cardiff,” Ianto answered. He busied himself pulling out various pots and pans. “I have pasta,” he answered. “I make a good bolognese.” 

“Sounds much better than the takeaway I usually eat,” Jack said smiling. “Can I help?”

“Please don’t,” Ianto said. “I prefer things done my own way in the kitchen.”

Jack laughed; that was so Ianto. When he laughed, Elphie arched her back and hissed. “Your cat’s making me uncomfortable.” 

“Oh I doubt that,” Ianto said, looking up at Elphie fondly. “I don’t think anything can make Captain Jack Harkness uncomfortable.” 

“I’ve never cared that cats are scared of me,” Jack admitted. “Not until right this second.” He and Elphie were engaged in a staring contest. 

“She’ll get to know you,” Ianto said. He seemed far less concerned about Elphie hating him than Jack did. 

Throughout dinner, the cat sat perched on her spot on top of the refrigerator and continued her vigilant staring at Jack. When he would look up and make eye contact, she’d hiss at him, her back arching slightly. 

This behavior continued all through dinner, and when Jack and Ianto retired to the bedroom and began making out on the bed, Elphie followed and jumped onto the chest of drawers, still staring at Jack unhappily. 

“Ianto,” Jack said, pulling himself from Ianto’s lips. “Your cat is really freaking me out.” 

Ianto got up, put Elphie outside the room and shut the door on her. “Better?” he asked. Jack could tell when he was being humored. 

It was worse, though, with Elphie out of the room. From the other side of the door, they could hear her loud howls and meowing. And when she started frantically scratching at the door, Jack gave up. “I can’t do this with her making that noise.” Ianto looked so disappointed, and Jack hated making him feel like that, but this was ridiculous. “I’m sorry your cat doesn’t like me.” 

“I just like you both so much,” Ianto said. “I don’t want you to feel unwelcome.”

Jack stood up and pulled his trousers back on. “Let’s just hang out here. Let her get used to me before she sees me climbing all over you and doing terrible things to your body.”

Ianto blushed in the way that only Jack could make him, and Jack loved seeing it. 

Instead of having sex, they went out and cuddled, fully clothed, on the sofa and talked quietly. Elphie stopped her howling, but kept up her constant surveillance of Jack. The plan had been for Jack to stay the night, but instead he bowed out and went back to his bed at the Hub. 

______

Jack wanted to stick with having sex at the Hub, but Ianto thought that was pathetic and that they should have a more properly domestic relationship. A couple of weeks after Jack kept evading the question of when he’d come over to Ianto’s flat again, Ianto put it bluntly. “I’m going home tonight and you’re welcome to come with me. I can’t believe Captain Jack Harkness would let a cat win.” 

The more often Jack came over, the better Elphie got, but she never exactly  _ liked  _ him. It took months, but her attitude became one of resigned acceptance. While Elphie would spend most of his visiting hours staring at him with dilated pupils, she’d at least stopped hissing and arching whenever she saw Jack. And they were eventually able to have sex in Ianto’s bed without her throwing a howling fit. 

Still, she never liked him. 

Until. 

Mica had taken Elphie in after Ianto died. After the funeral, Jack and Gwen went to Rhiannon’s house to pay respects with Jack in a daze under a cloud of grief like one he’d never felt in his long, long life. 

Jack and Gwen were sitting quietly on the couch when the little black and white furball launched herself at Jack, curled up on his lap and purred when he stroked her head. 


End file.
